HOUSTON – HBU received a solid all-around effort on Dig Pink! Night, with three Huskies recording double-digit kills, in a 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-22) sweep of Sam Houston State in Southland Conference volleyball Thursday night at Sharp Gym.
"It was good to be home, after four in a row on the road, it was nice to be in front of our home crowd, they were excellent again tonight," HBU head coach
Trent Herman said. "I'm so proud of the kids, we've preaching the last couple of weeks on getting our defense better, I think tonight our defense showed up, which was a big key for us."
Senior setter
Kayla Armer dished out 34 assists, recorded 10 digs, had six errorless kills and three blocks to pace the Huskies (17-10, 8-3 SLC). Junior outside hitter
Bailey Banks hit .345 with 12 kills and had a match-high 20 digs for her 17
th double-double of the season, senior outside hitter
Melissa Fuchs added 11 kills, nine digs and five blocks and senior right side
Ashlee Vann had 10 kills. Junior middle blocker
Blair Gillard put down eight blocks.
"Individually, we had some great performances from Bailey having 20 digs and 12 kills to Kayla once again taking care of some shaky passing when we went through some stretches to still get those balls to our hitters," Herman said. "It was a tremendous team effort, we made plays down the stretch when we needed to in sets two and three. Our kids are excited for the match on Saturday and we'll go back to work tomorrow in preparation for Stephen F. Austin."
Brooke White led the Bearkats (11-12, 5-5) with 13 kills, while Jordyn Vaughn had 10 kills and six digs. Jaclyn Ward handed out 19 assists and came up with 10 digs, while Claire Kilpatrick led SHSU defensively with 13 digs. Taylor Cunningham added six blocks.
HBU hit .261 for the match, while limiting SHSU to .097. The Huskies outdug the Bearkats, 58-53, and outblocked them, 10-8.
The Huskies scored four-straight points in the first set on consecutive kills by Banks, junior outside hitter
Laura Fox, Banks again, then Vann to lead 10-5. After the Bearkats got back to within two at 12-10, HBU once again scored four-straight with Vann, Fuchs and Armer providing the putaways for a six-point advantage. Back-to-back kills by Fuchs got the Huskies to set point with their largest lead of nine, before closing it out, 25-17. HBU hit .378 in the set with 19 kills to only five errors.
The second set was a see-saw battle, with neither team holding more than a two-point lead until HBU broke an 18-18 tie with three-straight points, sparked by a kill from Fox. SHSU answered by scoring the next four take a one-point lead, but HBU bounced back to score the final four points of the set, including sophomore defensive specialist
Rachel Angeles providing one of only two aces on the night, for a 25-22 win and a 2-0 leading going into the break.
HBU scored five of the first six points of the third set, but SHSU roared back to tie the set, 7-7. HBU led, 13-10, after kills by Banks and Vann, but the Bearkats would not go away quietly as they knotted the score again at 14. A kill by Armer and a block by Gillard and Fuchs put the Huskies up by two, but the Bearkats tallied the next four to lead 18-16. HBU tied it with the next two points, but Vaughn regained the lead for SHSU with a kill. The Huskies countered with a five-point run a kill by Fuchs, a pair by Banks and one by Armer to lead by four at 23-19. Banks put away the final two points for the Huskies to seal the final set, 25-22.
HBU trails second-place Stephen F. Austin by a half-game heading into Saturday showdown with the Ladyjacks at 1 p.m. at Sharp Gym.
